Sicutaldtg system



W. R. MCNARY.

SIGNALING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 9. IQII.

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SIGNALING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 9. 1911.

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W. R. IVICNARY` SIGNALING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 9, 1911.

H502 na la WILLIAM B. MUNAIRY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

SIGNALIN G SYSTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 16, 1919.

Application med November 9, 1917. Serial No. 201,010.

To all whom z't may concern:

Be it known that I,W1LLIAM a citizen of the United States, residin at Detroit, in the county of Wayne, tate of Michigan, have invented@J new and useful Improvement in Signaling Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to signaling systems for vehicles, and has for its ob]ect a combined automatic and manually-operated system. The automatic signals are operated by the movement of one of the pedals, preferably the clutch edal. l The automatic signals indicate low and Stop The manually-operated signals are operated by pressing buttons on or near the steering post and indicate the intention of the driver to turn to the right or to the left.-

The system is operated by the aid of both electricity and air, and thereby ei'ects an economy in cost of construction. It comprises electro-inagnetic devices for operating the valves for the pneumatic apparatus, the latter of which is located in the ksignaling box or adjacent thereto.

The signals may be placed both at the rear and at the front ofthe car,the Right Left, Stop and Slow signals being placed at the rear and the Right and Left signals being repeated at the front if desired. (This is not, however, shown. in the drawings.)

In the drawings,-

Figure'l is a perspective of the rear signal ox. I b Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the apparatus.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation partly in section of the rear box.

Fig. 4 is a cross section of the rear signal.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of the air valves.

Fig. 6 is a view of one of the pneumatic cylinders and light switches, largely in section.

Referring to Fig. 1, a indicates the 'signal box L shaped in cross section. yThe bottom of the L contains a couple of slots through which the Stop and Slow signs can be raised, ,and the top ofthe contains a couple of slots through which. the Right and Left signs may be raised. Corresponding with these are the left blue light indicating turning to the left and the right blue light indicatingturning to the right, the red light indicating a proposed R. MCNAiiY,

stop and the green light indicating a slowing down. In the center at the bottom is the usual red tail light l0 above the license plate.

Turning to Fig. 2, an air supply tank is indicated by this name in the diagram. This is connected with an air main b which (see Fig. 5) passes through valve cases c. A special valve d in the form of a piston has a pair of passage-ways, one a straight transverse and the other an oblique transverse.

VIn the upper portion of Fig. 5 the oblique transverse connects the distributing pipe e with the exhaust pipe f and consequently serves to exhaust the distributing pipe e. In the lower portion of Fig. 5, the straight transverse passage-way connects the niain or a branch from the main with the distributing pipe c. Consequently air is supplied from the air tank through the distributing pipe to the pneumatic cylinder, such as shown in Fig. 6. This serves to raise the piston g which is attached to the sign h. z' is a stop in the form of a small piston which traps air in the inverted pot j to cushion the upward limit of the stroke, while 1c is a cush` ioning spring to cushion the lower limit of the stroke.. When the sign rises it has an arm Z which releases the'switch m soas to establish a circuit through the companion electric light n so as to have the appropriate color light show. This, of course, will not show unless the main circuit is closed at the dash switch 0 (Fig. 2).

Referring to Fig. 5, it will be seen that the air Valves d are controlled by the solenoids g and the springs r, the solenoids g serving to pull the valve to the right to connect the distributing pipe with the main, and the spring 1' serving to return the valve to its normal position in which the distributing pipe e is connected with the exhaust outlet. The solenoids are in circuit with an lautomatically -operated switch and two manuallyfope-rated switches. The switch s on the steering post is the switch that controls the Left sign-al, and it will be found by tracing it from the top of the diagram shown in Fig. 2 that the wiring leads to the .solenoid L which in turn operates the air valve L, which air valve supplies air through the distributing pipe e to the two pneumatic cylinders L2 that lift the Left sign. From the solenoid the circuit can be traced in return to the battery and from the battery back to the switch. Similarly tracing the circuit from the switch t on the steering post, it will be found tha-t it leads to the solenoid R which controls an air valve R', and that the distributing pipes e from. this air valve lead to the two pneumatic cylinders R2 that raise the Right sign.

The automatic switch consists of the switching block u with a pair of conducting bridges and an idler block c for the single conducting bridge. rllhis switching block has already lbeen patented and described and claimed at length in my prior Patent #1,244,110 of October 23rd, 1917. It is operated preferably by a clutch pedal which throws it first to the right in'Fig. 2.

This brings the conducting bridge :v intoy circuit is tracedYV from the battery to thelower electrode 1, through the conducting bridge e, through the wire 2, to the electrode y, thence through the conducting bridge t to the lower electrode y. The. circuit then leads directly to the 'solenoid S which controls the air valve S that in turn controls the air passing to the pneumatic cylinders S2 which lift the Slow signal. Further movement of the switch u to the right breaks the circuit already traced and brings the conducting bridge 7 into Contact with the electrodes 3. rlhe circuit may now easily be traced from the lower electrodes 3 to the solenoid X which controls the air valve X that in turn controls the distributing pipe e leading to the pneumatic cylinders X2 that raise the Stop sign. The switching block is connected with the idler block o by means of the slot and pin connection fl- Consequently on its return stroke the switching block does not pick up the idler block so that the conducting bridge e and the conducting bridge contemporaneously register with the electrodes 1 and y respectively, which is necessary to establish the complete israele circuit. rlhe result is that on the return stroke the Slow sign is not shown.

We have already explained that when the dash switch 0 is closed the pneumatic plunger serves to allow the closing of a local switch m to operate the companion. lights L3, R3, S3, X3, so that provision is made for both the sign exposure and the light exposure at night. I have not shown in the drawings the exact location of the air valves as'it would tend to complicate the drawings and as their location is no material part of the invention, they might easily be located out of the box in the rear of the vehicle or in the box, just as desired.

What I claim is:

1. In apparatus Jrior the. purpose specified, the combination of signs for indicating the intention of the driver of a vehicle, pneumatic cylinders and pistons for raising and lowering the signs, distributing pipes leading to the cylinders, valve cases provided with air intake passage-ways and exhaust passage-ways, a. piston in each valve case provided with a straight transverse passageway and an oblique transverse passage-way, the former to connect the distributing pipe with the inlet passage-way and the latter to connect the distributing pipe with the exhaust passage-way, and power devices including electro-magnetic means for controlling the action of the valve from a distance.

2. In apparatus for the purpose specilied, the combination of signs for indicating the intention of the driver of a vehicle, pneumatic cylinders and pistons for raising the signs` an inverted dash pot having a. fixed position, and a piston secured to the sign and piston and adapted to trap air in the inverted pot when the sign reaches the upper limit of the stroke.

In witness whereof, l have hereunto set my hand on the 31st day of October, 1917.

WHJLAM R. MCNARY. 

